Well...

... the tube has gone.

A full and little round face.

Emily feeding him his bottle. ( I love the way he is looking at her. He still had his tube here as we had to make sure he could cope with the bottle.)

So much has happened over the past couple of weeks, but the best thing is that Joel now can smile without a stickie on his face. It has been out for 10 days and his face is slowly recovering. He put on a full pound over the last week, yes one full pound; so not only is his heart getting stronger but he is now, (finally) tolerating the milk enough to increase it to a suitable dose in order to provide decent weight gain. He is now 14lb 15 oz and doing well.

Tonight will be the first night he will sleep in his own room - a bit later than we had expected as he was 6 months old yesterday but only in the past week has he been sleeping more consistently in the night (one or two wake ups.)

He is starting baby rice tomorrow, a really exciting step and hopefully not too messy.

I have so much more to say, our Godson and nephew was dedicated at the weekend, we had a visit to Belfast, we have been decorating, celebrated birthdays, had visitors to stay and are enjoying half term. Emily continues to be a joy and a funny little one to be with. She entertains me with such funny things and with a energy which is so infectious.

More pics to follow.

For now, thanks be to God for a healing and very happy son.

PS. His dedication/Christening is on Saturday 16th May @ 2pm. ( I am busy making the invites so expect them in the post soon.)